sovereign grace

In accordance with my resolution for the next [school] year to write more about the Bible:

The first ten or twelve verses of Ephesians 1 are amazing from many perspectives, but today I was noticing the emphasis on the role of God’s will and God’s choice in our salvation. Words denoting the supremacy of God’s will and purpose are mentioned at least twelve times in six verses:

“According as he [the Father] hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love;
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself,
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. . .”
Ephesians 1:4-10

Which (if you don’t get along well with King James English, and that passage is particularly convoluted in both English and Greek) is to the point that God, from the beginning of the world, chose his children, and set his love on us and forgave us and planned everything for the purpose of bringing us together in Christ, for his own glory. He planned it all. It doesn’t depend on me – which is good, these days, because I haven’t always been paying as much attention as I should.

It’s what I believe, too, because that message is so clear throughout the Bible, that God created the world and His wisdom is such that He knows all from the beginning to the end, knows who will accept His grace and salvation, how our journey through this life will go, and when He has appointed for us to leave it to join Him.